2009-10 Team Project Summaries

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The West Paces Hotel Group
Auburn, AL, USA

The Hotel at Auburn University — Maximizing Customer Engagement

Presentation: Monday, May 24, 4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Room: 262

Type of Team: Process Improvement/Customer Engagement

The Hotel at Auburn University set out with one primary goal in mind: To maximize customer engagement so that its customers would return often and tell everyone they know about the incredible service they experienced at the hotel.  Using a system of total quality management, a methodology of plan-deploy-measure-improve, closed-loop feedback systems, and the philosophical benchmarks of founder Horst Schulze, a pioneer in the service industry, the team set out to achieve its objectives. Within three years the team not only met its goals, but it exceeded them, driving higher revenues, greater profitability and unprecedented word-of-mouth referrals in the market. The improvements include driving performance to 95-percent overall customer satisfaction, increasing hotel occupancy to 62 percent, and cutting defects and cost of poor quality in half. The project has enabled the hotel to become no. 1 in its respective marketplace.

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